Alex Suchan of Upper Lake sees a little green amongst the frost-burned leaves on his walnut trees on Wednesday. Frosts this month have knocked out his 100-acre walnut orchard's crop for this year, he said. Photo by Elizabeth Larson.
LAKE COUNTY – Standing in his Upper Lake orchard on a breezy Wednesday afternoon, Alex Suchan points to acres of his walnut trees, their branches adorned with withered, blackened leaves burned by a late season frost.
Farming with his family in Upper Lake since 1943, Suchan is used to tough years. So far, 2008 looks like another one, thanks to freezing nighttime temperatures that have hit the county and the North Coast over the past month.
He estimates that his 100 acres of walnuts have been essentially knocked out for the year.
“It's not a matter of a light crop, it's going to be no crop,” he said.
Suchan's predicament is shared by many farmers all over Lake County. From walnuts to pears to winegrapes, crops have been hit “across the board,” said Chuck March, executive director of the Lake County Farm Bureau.
Lake County Winegrape Commission Executive Director said it's hard to know now just what the ultimate impact on crops will be, but added, “it doesn't look good.”
The Lake County Agriculture Commissioner's office reported that they'll begin surveys next week in order to assess the damage's extent.
The freezing temperatures, which reportedly have damaged crops up and down the West Coast, are expected to last for at least a few more days, said Glenn McGourty, University of California Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor.
McGourty said that, while many winegrape growers in Lake and Mendocino counties have used frost protection – some as much as 20 nights in the last month – the crops haven't escaped the very late frost.
“It looks like there's a lot of damage,” he said.
Areas hit particularly hard are Middletown in Lake County and Potter Valley in Mendocino, he said.
Even areas that normally aren't impacted by frost are seeing damage, he said. And with temperatures dipping into the mid-20s, that's pushing the limits of what sprinklers can do against frost protection.
It's a depressing situation, said McGourty.
He said 1973 was the last time the region saw this kind of a year, temperature-wise. “It's that kind of a year, and we're not out of the woods yet.”
The night of Saturday, April 19 and the early morning of Sunday, April 20, were probably the coldest, said McGourty. “It caught a lot of people by surprise.”
Earlier winegrape varieties like Pinot Noir, Grenache, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonny really took a hit, he said.
Gunier said it's possible that some of the grapes can “reboot” once warmer temperatures become more consistent.
Tuesday's rain provided a welcome relief for growers who were getting used to checking their crops through the night, McGourty said.
Paul Lauenroth grows 10 acres of Petite Syrah winegrapes and 250 acres of walnuts in Kelseyville.
He said he expects his winegrapes to suffer anywhere from a 30- to 60-percent crop loss, but he needs a few warm days to see what might grow back and what's dead.
As to the walnuts, he's not sure yet of the total picture for that crop, although he said his Hartley and Chandler varieties were “pretty much history.”
He added, “The more I look, the worse I think.”
From last Saturday through Monday, Lauenroth said he took the hardest hit. He doesn't have frost protection because, at least for his winegrapes, he hasn't had them freeze before.
“I think this is a really, really serious frost,” Lauenroth said.
Some help from frost protection
Frost protection did, however, help Kelseyville farmer Don Eutenier, who said his 20 acres of pears and 70 acres of winegrapes have escaped the cold snap largely unscathed.
For 14 nights this month, he's used his overhead sprinklers on the grapes and solid set, under-tree sprinklers on the pears. It's not a record, he said, but still a lot of frost protection at this time of year.
Without frost protection, he added, “I'd of been in lots of trouble.”
For Suchan, sprinklers helped save his young walnut nursery stock, whose tiny green shoots have begun appearing above the soil.
But he doesn't have frost protection for his orchards, and wind machines wouldn't have helped in this frost, which he called “upside down” because the warmer air was near the ground.
Suchan also said he's lost critical seed stock for his nursery business. “About half of what we need we grow ourselves, and we've lost all that.”
This wasn't a particularly late freeze, said Suchan, noting that growers in his area usually have problems late in April, and have experienced killing frosts into late May.
“It's been five to six years since we had a bad freeze like this,” he said.
Crop insurance will help, but won't totally cover the loss, he said.
He estimates that the state's walnut crop, which was low last year, will be lower still this year, and will be a marketing headache for growers losing market share to other nut crops.
Like Suchan, Lauenroth has different businesses; a commercial walnut dryer, a trucking business and firewood sales. “Hopefully I can exist on the firewood business this year.”
Ultimately, losses to his business will result in Lauenroth having to cut back on what he can buy for his operations and the people he can hire.
The frost has Lauenroth thinking about the larger picture, and food production challenges around the world.
“This stuff is all getting real serious,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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